Raising awareness among Christians about the global status of the Great Commission. Sharing ideas and knowledge about missions and provoking thought and prayer. Comments and discussion is welcome.

October 15, 2011

2 Opinions of National Workers

A few years ago, I was attending a
mission conference in the Los Angeles area. In one of the smaller
sessions, a group of us began to discuss and debate one of the most
important topics in missions today, 'foreign missionary vs national
missionary'. A number of folks there were likely foreign
missionaries themselves and it seemed that the majority of the people
in the room seemed to favor sending foreign missionaries. 4 or 5
people spoke up and gave their 2 cents about their take on the
subject, and I, of course, did what I could to give a voice to the
voiceless in the room (the national missionaries who do about 90% of
all pioneer evangelism). From there, the debate turned heated and we
ended up hurling random pens and staplers at one another. Just
kidding. The discussion lasted a brief time, but was healthy and
done in good will.

During my drive home, I reflected on
the issues raised and the problems that some of them had with
supporting national missionaries. I then realized that some of us in
the room were speaking past one another to some degree, like two ships sailing by one another in the night. While I was
focused on supporting national missionaries in a format similar to
Gospel for Asia, where they require financing at first, but go
self-supporting once they have planted a few churches, they were
thinking about national pastors
who are often hired to take over churches that have been planted by
foreign missionaries. In many cases, these national pastors
will never go self-supporting. They simply maintain the ministry and
activities that were active while the foreign missionaries were
there. This just goes to prove that our opinions are shaped by our
experiences. In regards to mission work, the opinions of the
national workers is largely going to be defined by one's prior
experiences with them. This results in some positive opinions of the national
wokers and some negative opinions of the national workers.

In
Reformation in Foreign Missions,
Bob Finley describes how simply hiring national pastors can be a
problem area. The reason it can often become a problem is because
the foreign missionaries have first come and established a church
that is highly Westernized. It has all the bells and whistles of a
church one might see in the heartland of America. There will be pews, a pipe
organ, nice dress, a stage, a foyer, a steeple, offering plates,
communion paraphinalia, programs and classes for each age group, etc.
When the foreign missionaries prepare to leave, they select a local
believer to take over the ministry. Here's the problem: that new
pastor is now expected to continue an elaborate ministry that cannot
possibly be kept alive on the meager earnings of the local believers.
In order to maintain all the bells and whistles and continue doing
ministry in the same manner as the wealthy foreign missionaries, the
church will forever be dependent upon the foreigners who have all the
money. (This is a reason missionaries are now beginning to
understand that the form of Christianity that should be brought to a
new people, should be stripped of all excessive cultural traditions,
so that the pure gospel can spread unhindered in a way that can be
multiplied many times over.)

There can also be
instances where the national pastors are just not the right caliber.
They don't have the will to plant new churches. They don't want to
go self-supporting, because quite frankly, it's easier to rely on
support from the wealthy Americans. They've been receiving a very
generous pay and for them to rely on the tithes of the locals would
be a drastic decline in their income. In this case, I would argue that the mistake was made in the beginning when the foreign missionaries selected a national who was not up for the challenge.

So as you can see,
a situation like this can get quite messy. Just hiring the local
pastors can be a problematic area. So, if someone's experience with
national workers is similar to these circumstances, it's obvious to
see why the opinions of supporting national workers will be negative.

However,
there is another method of supporting national workers. Gospel forAsia and Empart are two of the best examples of this form of
missions. They support national missionaries, not national pastors.
From the very beginning, the nationals are expected to go out and
plant churches and go self-supporting. They are interviewed, vetted,
trained, and sent out. The ministry leaders make sure the trainees
are individuals desiring to reach their own people. During the whole
process, the nationals are made aware that they will be going out to
plant churches and go self-supporting. In these situations, there
are no cumbersome bells, whistles, and cultural traditions that the national missionaries will have to carry with them to each church they plant. They don't
even have to build a church building for each church they plant.
They stick to the basics that can be multiplied everywhere – Bible,
prayer, worship, outreach. It's often as simple as that. And you
know what, when missionaries start out on this path, there is little
resistance when the time comes for them to go self-supporting. It
was expected of them all along and they did it. This is how agencies
like Gospel for Asia and Empart operate.

Unlike
those who have the experience of supporting national pastors
indefinitely, those who have the experience of supporting national
missionaries for a
temporary time, generally have a very favorable opinion of it. Thus,
there is going to be a discrepency in opinions when it comes to
supporting national workers. The method you are familiar with will
often dictate your opinion. This is why I have learned that when
speaking on the subject of supporting nationals, it is very important
to define precisely what method is being used and what are the
parameters of the ministry.

This
topic is discussed on pages 14 and 15 of Missions in the
Third Millenium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st
Century by Stan Guthrie.

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About Me

My desire is to create awareness among Christians of the global status of the Great Commission, share my thoughts and knowledge on the subject, provoke thought, and bring us all to prayer and action.
Jesus Christ saved this sinner in 2000 during my freshman year in college. During the first few years of my new life, my ministry focus was on evangelism to those around me on campus and in the community. In '02 I heard about the native missionary movement for the first time through a presentation by Gospelink. It changed the way I think about missions. Slowly, but surely, God began to open my eyes and broaden my horizons so that I could see beyond my campus and community to the greater needs world wide. 3 billion people are still unreached with the message of Jesus Christ. I could not ignore that fact any longer. After months of research and prayer, I became a volunteer representative for Gospel for Asia in '06. Though no longer with Gospel for Asia, I am looking forward to supporting other wonderful organizations. I am leity, but I have spoken at fellowships, churches, and mission conferences. I also contribute to aboutmissions.org